Love and retaliation
by Conzu
Summary: This stories timeline is many years after Ozai's fall. It begin with Conzu's promotion to corporal in the Fire Nation army. But the happiness soon fades away. He will have to make choices that are about to change his life,  forever..
1. Intro

STORY BACKGROUND INFORMATION

I'm using the timeline and info of the RPG, written by ScarletCougar.

The timeline of these stories are many years after Firelord Ozai's fall and the end of the (big) war. There is a new firelord, Firelord Gotag. The Gaang passed away many years before our timeline, so they'll not be part of this story. It is a time just between the avatars. The Fire Nation still owns the Northwestern section of the continent (and the Fire islands ofcourse).

There are still tensions between the four nations, not necessarily a full out war.

But, there is still lots of tension and border fights, the politcs of each nation has

not changed. There is a high king in Ba Sing Se with lesser kings of the really large Earth Kingdom cities. The Fire Nation is still ruled by a Fire Lord. The Fire Nation royal bloodline has ended and Firelord Gotag was elected from among the other military officers and warlords. The watertribes are still ruled by two chiefs: North and South. The Air Nomads have returned to the temples and are slowly prospering better than many


	2. The promotion

**FIRE NATION HISTORY**

Firelord Gotag decided together with the council to promote a certain soldier, to the rank of corporal. This soldier was Conzu, a 25 year old soldier who proved to be loyal and worthy to the Fire Nation.

Conzu was already informed about his promotion and was a bit nervous for the ceremony. He was asked by the council to give a speech in honour of the Firelord and the summer solstice festival. Normally the Fire Nation never gave ceremonies for such promotions, only swearing in's. But this time, they made an exception because of the Summer Solstice festival. Finally the moment was there, the royal family was sitting in the best seats. The Firelord himself sat together with the council and the military leaders. They sat on a stage in front of the plaza where the ceremony was being held. First there was a swearing in ceremony of the new recruits.

General [uncle Iroh gave the new recruits of the FNAF (Fire Nation Armed Forces) - one by one - their first weapons. Recruit Freeze was a bit nervous; when he stood in front of the General he looked down. [uncle Iroh then stretched out his hand to Freeze's chin, and forced him to look straight into his eyes. Freeze felt the energy that was streaming out of the General, who happened to be one of the three fire Sages. Took his weapon, saluted and marched away. "He has a great potential, he only need to be trained" [uncle Iroh said to himself.

After this there was a short break in the ceremony. The new soldiers marched to a different spot. Cpl. Alyanomo – a friend of Conzu – came to wish him good luck with his speech. "You do realize that you're about to give a speech for approximally 600 people AND the firelord, do you?" - "yeah, thanks.. you're helping me a lot" Conzu answered sarcastically. "Anyways, got to go… good luck" Alyanomo said while walking away. Minutes passed away, seconds that seemed like years, and years like ages. "I wish my parents could have seen this" Conzu sighed. Suddenly he gained strength out of the thought of his parents.

The ceremony began.  
This time, only the Firelord sat at the royal stage. Conzu turned to the plaza and saw the whole council standing there. Scarletr, the head of the Fire Sages, Admiral Laoi and General [uncle Iroh.

The music was playing then the drums made an end to it. Fire was everywhere in the air, three fire dragons were flying in the air. It was a magnificent site, then the council rose from their thrones. The dragons turned from direction and each dragon flew right into one sage. The promotion ceremony and festival was officially opened.

Scarlet opened her mouth and spew fire in the air, "We are the sons and daughters of fire, the superior element! Laoi and [uncle Iroh made a flying carpet of fire. "In the name of our great spirits, come forward, oh son of Fire!" The fire carpet flew directly to Conzu. Conzu who was a bit confused about this strange thing, stepped upon this carpet, immediately he was brought the council. The carpet disappeared from under his feet and he kneeled down. "Conzu, son of Azur, in the name of Firelord Gotag, conqueror and Lord over the eastern provinces. We promote you with the favour of the sun and our spirits to the rank of corporal. Now, stand as an officer of the Fire Nation!" Scarlet attached the new ranks to his uniform. "As you know Cpl. Conzu, today is our holiday. Please speak in honor of the festival and our most esteemed leader."  
Conzu turned around and looked at the Firelord, who gave him a smile. Conzu bowed and began his speech.

_"Dear friends, Fist of all I want to thank the Firelord and the council for this honor._  
Conzu's voice became more serious now. _I know that some of you and some of our citizens are tired and weary of this war. But let me tell you about the importance of this war, a war of survival and freedom. A war of an free Nation that fought to be free, and liberated other nations!_

_  
The Fire Nation always was a rich nation; we always had skilled metalworkers and blacksmiths. We had the best and most advanced technology, warships, and fortresses even in those times!"_ The newly corporal looked around, closed his eyes and started talking again._ "We even exported our skills to the other nations. Our nations had the best mines and the best resources. Our food was the best, we had noodles, rice, tea, lychee nuts, everything. First the other nations started mocking us. By making a mockery of our fire flakes, fire cakes and Sizzle crisps. Then they even started boycotting the cabbage industry. What they are doing even now. These were just little things, but they inaugurated an anti Fire Nation campaign_

_  
We all know that if one wants to fight, it is fine with us. There is no room in the world for our enemies and us anymore! This was something Firelord Sozin – of blessed memory – knew. He was the one who saw the danger and was not corrupted. The sages, and so also Firelord Sozin knew of this powerful comet that was arriving. And with the passing of the misled or blindly Avatar Roku, he saw our chance to free the world of these ignorant enemies. We all knew ofcourse that the airbenders would lose, that they and all of our enemies, with their devilish, life denying and destructive doctrines will be destroyed. Look around and see how the emigrants are fleeing around the earth kingdom, a brutal idol worshipper sits in the Northern water tribe, and the Southern watertribe is on the brink of extinction. In the beginning of the war, they formed a front, and the airbenders were behind them all. Even now, the avatar – an airbender – is behind them all. Didn't Ba Sing Se fall because of the avatar? OFCOURSE it did! It's all the fault of the avatar, an airbender. If only the world would realize this._

_  
We don't fight an enemy that will have compassion on us. Remember Afiko?  
Afiko was an airbender who lived in the beginning of the war. Afiko told Firelord Sozin everything we had to know. And the Fire Nation destroyed the Air nomads! We were invincible. Afiko even helped us conquering the Eastern provinces, but after 5 years of what we thought loyal service. It turned out that he was a traitor, and with grief Firelord Sozin had to execute him. This…_ Conzu leaned forward with his arms on the little desk _…my dear friends, if how evil our enemy is._

_  
Then… I found a new family, I joined the army. At age 12 I was sent to military camp, I was trained and I trained myself to follow my orders and have no mercy.  
_

_  
My brothers, when you see the enemy before you, then think… Think of what I just have told you. Remember our innocent loved ones who were killed by these animals. Think about what will happen to our beautiful nation if they will invade it. Think of the good people out there, who need to be liberated! Don't show any mercy upon them, for we are the descendants of the superior element!_ Conzu stopped a while to breath, looked around and saw the serious and in agreement nodding faces. Suddenly he formed a fist with his hand, and pulled his arm in the air while shooting a large flame. _"ALL HAIL FIRELORD GOTAG!"_

All 600 men followed his example, the sky was red and yellow for the upcoming minutes.

Farmers who were many miles away from the ceremony could hear a loud "HUO! HUO! HUO!"


	3. After the promotion

_The following story is dated before Conzu's promotion to General._

**The promotion – before and after**

At the party after the promotion, Cpl. Conzu was talking to some of his friends.  
"That was a great speech Conzu!" Lian, one of his soldiers said. "hell yes! Especially the part of the air…" Conzu didn't even heard them babbling. "uh, ex, excuse me…" he whispered while pushing his friends away. "what? What's wrong with him?" Lian asked. 

The newly corporal seemed not to notice all of the people around him. He kept looking forward, to one certain person.

"Ah, he probably drank too much. You know what promotions can do to peoples minds?" Zakora laughed. "No, I'm sure that it's something else. Something you won't expect from our friend Conz…." Alyanomo grinned. 

"What do you mean?" "Well… look for yourself". The men all looked in Conzu's direction. "aaah now, that makes sense!" they replied.

Conzu stood a bit uneasy in front of a girl named Kushi. "Well… what do you think? How was I?" "You was great Conzu, and you know that. You're always great" she replied to him, while hugging him. 'but.. you know.. wasn't I a bit clumsy?'  
'what? You clumsy? Haha no, you wasn't. You did an awesome job. Everyone was stunned by your words, they loved it! And so did I!'  
'oh, right.. hehe thanks' conzu blushed. "Ah.. the corporal is in luuuve" a soldier (who happened to be a friend of Conzu) teased him.  
"Back off soldier! Shut your mouth, I don't want to hear anything about th…." Kushi stopped him by placing her hand on his mouth. She looked right in his eyes, 'sssht'  
'now soldier, tell me.. have you ever had such a fine corporal? As a friend of Cpl. Conzu, did you even know about his personal life?"  
'well uh, ma'am, I….'  
'I see, I already thought so. Yes, the corporal and I are in love. Is that so strange? I bet you dream every night about this fantasy and the other. But you don't have a wife, you don't even have an girlfriend. And you know why?'  
The soldier began to feel uncomfortable, and shuffled with his feet. "It's because you're too childish. Now, give your superior and me our privacy, and we let you having your fantasies.'  
'oh, uh, ehm…' the soldier was stunned and ashamed, he didn't know what to say. In the meantime a bunch of people began to pay interest in this interesting conversation.  
Conzu straightened his back; 'well soldier, what will it be?' The soldier immediately saluted and walked away, through the laughing crowd. 

"so… if you'll excuse us" Conzu said to the people. He gave his arm to Kushi and walked away. 

"wow, they got him kinda, harsh" Zakora laughed. 'well.. yeah that's our old good Conzu' Alyanomo yelled with a glass of wine in his hand. "What Conzu?" Lian answered, "it was his girl who kicked that soldier's but, not Conzu… ah yeah, woman…. They can't fight, but they'd kill you instantly with their words'  
"Ha! I'd better not say that too loud if I was you" The men turned around to see who said that… 

"General!" they all saluted. General Iroh looked at his soldiers with a funny smile and said: "Like I said… I'd better not say that too loud. If Scarlet hears you, she'll challenge you for an agni kai. And believe me, you wouldn't want that. But I've got to go on. Have a nice meal soldiers"

"uh, General?" Alyanomo said.  
"yes corporal?"  
"well, we were just wondering…"  
"yeah…?"  
"well, could you tell us some background information about Corporal Conzu? We know that he had a messy life, but he doesn't really talk a lot about his history." 

The General sighed, "when the corporal wants to talk about it, he'll talk about it."  
"but…"  
"Have a good day."

Conzu and Kushi walked hand in hand through the forest just outside the camp. They could hear the happy music and smell the delicious foods of the festival. The nature was beautiful, the music, the smell of foods, everything seemed so perfect for those two. 'It's like when we first met' Kushi said excited. Conzu thought for a while and nodded. "Yeah, it is. I can remember the day, as if it was yesterday." He stopped walking and looked around him, then he turned his head to Kushi. "Yes, I can remember it too" she said.   
"I was just outside Utsu, where I lived. I was walking in the forest. Actually I can't remember why I was in the forest, I guess we…"  
'You was looking for some nice flowers and tea plants, because you're grandmother was sick.' "Oh yes, that's true! And then I suddenly saw a lot of soldiers heading to Utsu. I was very surprised, or actually we were all very surprised to see that much Fire Nation soldiers. Ofcourse we were happy to see them, because we were suffering under continuous Earth Kingdom attacks on our city. We were barely able to withstand them. But then, then.. you came." Conzu looked into her eyes and caressed her through her long dark brown hair. 

"We knew about the Earth Kingdom attacks, that's why we came to Utsu. I was just a soldier back then, and I was willing to kill all enemy soldiers. After all they helped with murdering my whole family. Even my 6 year old brother." Slowly some tears began to flow out of Conzu's eyes. "They killed them all… and I… I" "No, Conzu. You couldn't do anything, you was helpless. It wasn't your fault, you know that" Kushi said, while whipping Conzu's tears of with her hand. "After all, because of that you joined the army."  
"True, because of that I've met you. Really Kushi, you and the Fire Nation are everything to me in this world."  
'I know that Conzu, I know that. I already knew that when I saw you for the first time. You served under Lieutenant Li Zhang. You marched on his right side, I saw you and you saw me. I immediately knew that you was the one.' "Yes, I was so happy to be stationed outside the city. Lt. Li zhang, gave me the command of the soldiers outside Utsu. I guess it must have been a stupid sight; I immediately rushed to see you. I just had to talk with you." Kushi grinned "and now we're 5 years later, you're promoted to corporal, I'm still living in Utsu and we're still together. I just want to say.. Conzu."  
'yes?'  
"Please, please stay alive; you can't imagine how much I miss you when you're out there. On, on the battlefield. Please stay alive, will ye?" Kushi's face was covered with tears, her face was wet of it. Conzu took her face between his hands. "Ofcourse! Ofcourse I'll stay alive, do you really think I let another guy marry you?" he joked. She looked down. "I'll just come back from the spirit world and take that guy with me."  
"CONZU!" Kushi shouted… Conzu laughed, "no, ofcourse I'll come back. I promise, really. Now.. come here." He kissed her tears from her face, "shhtt, sshht." "Now come, we should go back to the camp; I guess the meal is being served." They stood up, gave eachother a quick kiss and began walking to the camp. 

After a 15 minute walk they were back. "Before we go to the festival, I want you to have something." Conzu told Kushi, he took her hand and led her to his tent. "Conzu, what are you doing?" Kushi laughed. But Conzu didn't reply. "uh.. Conzu?" He seemed to be gone. But suddenly "tadah!" She turned her back and saw Conzu standing in front of her with a magnificent dress. It was a real royal fire nation dress, a large red dress with golden side stripes, and a fire Nation insignia on it. "It, it's beautiful. Conzu how?"  
'So, do you like it?' Conzu smiled. "ye, yes, ofcourse do I like it!"   
"It's yours then." Kushi was speechless, she kept hugging and kissing him.  
"I must admit I like it, eh… I don't want to be rude but, I'm hungry too. Are you going to wear it or not? Otherwise I'd be happy to escort milady to the diner table."   
"Silly corporal… I'll be right back." Conzu waited outside his tent. Ten minutes later Kushi came outside in her new dress. "And.. how do I look like?" This time it was Conzu's turn to be speechless. "You look beautiful." 

"Ah, Corporal Conzu!" General Iroh said  
"General"  
"The Firelord asked me to invite you and this lovely woman to sit at his table."  
"Well thank you General, we're honoured to have this privilege."

Some minute's later food was being served at the table of Firelord Gotag.  
"It is an honour for us to sit at your table milord."  
"Thank you corporal, but the honor is totally mines." "Thank you" Conzu said while leaning a bit backward because of the gigantic plate with delicious meat that was just being served.  
"Tell me Conzu, there are a lot of rumours about your life" the Firelord said.  
Scarlet poked Kushi, "you're his fiancée, right? Well you've found an excellent man in him. He is very loyal to his nation and I'm sure he'll be very loyal to you too."  
'well…actually, we're never engaged, why would you think that?' Kushi answered a bit confused. Scarlets face changed into tomato red.

Scarlet began paying attention again on the main conversation.  
"oy, that's terrible. They've killed you're whole family?" Firelord Gotag said in an undertone. General Iroh looked at the Firelord as if he wanted to say 'stop asking the man these touching things.' But he didn't say anything. 

The next day Conzu awoke early, like he did each day. He went out to the sparring area to find some contestants. But nobody was there; they were probably still sleeping because of the festivities of last night. Ofcourse there were guards patrolling the camp's walls and gates. But besides them, there was no one, but Conzu. So, Conzu decided to train on his own. One fire blast after the other, a large flame here, and there. Oh yes, Conzu loved it to train in the fresh morning air. Today it was a day off for most of the soldiers. Many of them made trips and that kind of things. 

Conzu trained the whole day, and the day went on. The next days passed too, and everything was again just as it used to be in army life. In the spare free time Conzu had, he was together with Kushi. Three and a half week after the promotion, he went to Kushi's tent as usual. But found out that she wasn't there. He asked the servants where she was, and they told him that she was out for a trip with her friends. 

"When did she leave?"  
'This morning, sir." "This morning? But it's already evening, it's 11 PM for spirits-sake! And her friends, are they back?"  
"No, sir" Conzu felt that there was something wrong. He rushed out of Kushi's tent and walked straight to the Council. 

"ah Corporal Conzu, can we help you?" General Iroh said with a big smile.  
Admiral Laoi Yataka looked curiously to the daring corporal. "Actually, yes you can. There are some people missing." "Oh yes, we know" the general said. "I suggest that we…-' "that we should pull out an searching team for your love? Is that it, corporal?"  
"But general it's not only her, but also…" "What do you care about them Conzu. You're only interest is the girl" Admiral Yataka, stepped forward. "Admiral, you should know that the Fire Nation should protect ALL of their citizens, whether…." - "ENOUGH!" General Iroh shouted. "Conzu, you've proven to be a very worthy officer, the Firelord is even considering to promote you even to general. But you still have to proof yourself."  
Conzu looked at the two high ranking officers and Fire Sages. "You're now an Corporal, Conzu. You have men under your command. You're a Fire Nation officer. BEHEAVE YOU like one!"  
"but, what can I do general?" "Haven't you heard what he said? Are you deaf or something" Admiral Yataka shouted. "You have men under your command, use them."  
"That's clear, sir." Conzu manned himself, saluted and walked away. 

He immediately mustered his soldiers. Fifteen minutes later all of his soldiers, a total of 30 soldiers were gathered. Conzu was just about to speak to the soldiers when a messenger came.  
"Corporal, this is for you" he gave Conzu a little scroll. Conzu opened the scroll, the soldiers only saw the eyes of the corporal flying over the letters. Then, his eyes suddenly stopped, he burned the scroll, fire was seen in his eyes. 'Men, there are some people missing. If they aren't back by the day after tomorrow, then we'll go out and search for them.' Conzu's soldiers included many of his personal friends. They never saw Conzu in such a worried state.  
'Corporal, with all due respect sir, may I…-'  
"Dismissed!" Conzu yelled and starred furiously to the ashes of the scroll he just burned. 

The day went by and Kushi was still gone. He barely slept that night; all that he could think about was Kushi and that scroll. 'Why? Why are they stopping me of finding her" Conzu said to himself. Conzu looked outside his tent, it was still dark. As much as he wanted to go and search for Kushi, he couldn't. It was an direct order from the Firelord, not to look for Kushi till the third day. 

At the end of the second day, she still wasn't back. It was noon and Conzu gathered his soldiers again.  
"Tomorrow is the third day, we've waited long enough now. Pack your stuff, put on your armor, for we're leaving this place tomorrow. We're going to search for three important persons." It could be a long journey, or maybe not. Only the spirits now. Tomorrow we're leaving at 7 AM. Be here on time or face the consequences." Every soldier knew that you had to follow the corporals orders. Conzu was known as a friendly and funny guy, but at the same time, he was also known as a real Spartan officer. 

The next morning Conzu awoke very early, he put on his clothes and began training. After that he washed himself. His soldiers were already waiting for him when he came at the place of muster. Everybody was nervous when they saw the corporal. 

Conzu didn't had the time and permission to gather eventual information beforehand. So they went on a mission without any information. 

_Some hours later in the royal section of the camp._  
The Firelord stood up from his chair with a cup of hot tea, "And…. General. How is the new corporal doing?" General Iroh looked silently away. "did he obeyed my orders?"  
'yes, milord. But I advise you not to….-'  
'good, good, I like men as Corporal Conzu. So passionate, so full of fire, full of love, and still loyal to death.' 'uh, yes Firelord.' Firelord Gotag starred in his cup of tea, 'I love tea general…. What about you?' 

Six days later the platoon came back from their mission. Nobody dared to say a word, they have searched everywhere, they did everything. But they didn't found Kushi. Ofcourse everybody knew that the corporal wasn't looking for the other two missing persons, he was only looking for Kushi. Conzu didn't even looked at his soldiers when they arrived at the barracks. "Dismissed" Conzu sighed, the soldiers left without saying a word. They knew that they'd better be silent. 

The next morning when Conzu awoke he found a message scroll next to him. He opened, and read it, his eyes became large, he was immediately fully awake. He rushed into his clothes and ran to the Council's tent. 

General Iroh was already waiting for him. "I see you've got my message?"  
"ye, yes, General" Conzu breathed. "good, well. We know that your search for miss Kushi was a failure, but since the Firelord likes you. And shares your loss, he gave me the permission to help you."  
"With all due respect sir, but how would you like to help me?" The general smiled "With one extra platoon of 20 firebenders under your command. This includes a couple of well trained spies. And we will sent out some of our platoons to help you in your search." Conzu was amazed to hear this, he couldn't believe his ears. "well.. corporal. Do you think that's fair?"  
"fair enough for me, sir. Thank you so much." "No thanks, Corporal Alyanomo and his platoon are now under your command. I've already informed him about that."  
"Thank you sir." "Now leave, you've a lot of things to do." Conzu saluted the general. 

Corporal Alyanomo was already looking for Conzu. "Ah, Conzu! I guess I've been assigned to find your girl, right?" Conzu nodded when he saw him. "Come with me Alyanomo, we've to discuss some things." 

The two corporals and long time friends walked for a while when Conzu broke the silence. "We must find her, you know." Alyanomo stopped walking: "Conzu, you do realise that she could be taken captive or.." "Or what?!" Conzu raised his voice. "Dead? Murdered? I don't think so Alya, she is a good fighter. She can survive some earth benders. No she isn't dead, that can't be." "Conzu, I'm happy to help you, but I also want you to know the other possibility. I'm your friend and I don't want..-" "if you're my friend, you shut your mouth and just help me. I don't want to hear anything about the so-called 'possibility that she's murdered. Understood?" Alyanomo saw literally the fire in Conzu's eyes what scared him a little bit, because he'd never seen him like this. 

The army was sending out one platoon after the other, but all came back with nothing for two weeks. In the third week Conzu's and Alyanomo's platoons where heading in direction of a hostile earth kingdom city. When a soldier saw all kinds of birds flying around one particular tree. "Corporal, what's that?" he shouted. Both platoons stopped walking, one of the soldiers walked to tree to see what it was. After the soldier realised what it was, he fell on the ground and vomited. "What are you doing soldier?!" Alyanomo shouted at the soldiers. Conzu turned pale and ordered him to shut up. He walked closely to the tree and looked up. Everyone was silent, nobody made a noise. It was as if there was no one there, except for Conzu. 

The vomiting soldiers crouched away with a face as if he saw a ghost when he saw Conzu coming. The birds were singing, but nobody of the Fire Nation soldiers dared to say a word. They didn't know what it was up there The only thing they saw was a big, large and thick tree with a lot of scary birds and insects around it.

Alyanomo didn't feel good, "Conzu… you better.." The soldier who just vomited walked to his corporal [Alyanomo "sshtt… it's better if you don't disturb him right now" he whispered. "what, why?"   
"Shut up!" 

In the meanwhile Conzu was already at the other side of the tree. He had to force himself to look up to the tree. Slowly Conzu moved his head and looked above him. "It can't be" were the only words he could say, he was shocked. After a minute the men wanted to come closer to see what it was. "Noooo!" Conzu screamed, "those filthy murders, why she?!" The soldiers stopped when they saw their corporal screaming like this. "Come you fools! Take her from that tree, take her down! Now!!! Go, go, go!" The men hurried to the tree to take the body down. When they arrived at the tree, they were shocked, some almost vomited, not only because of the smell, but also because of the looks of the body. Alyanomo couldn't believe his eyes. In his whole life, he had never seen such a thing as this. Two meters above him in that huge tree, there was a body. 

The body was nailed to the tree with stones. All knew who this person was. You couldn't guess wrong. Conzu sat on the ground with his head in his hands. "No, no… Kushi. Why?" a flood of tears was seen at his face. Kushi's arms were twisted around the tree, her dress – that Conzu gave her – was torn apart, dirty with dry mud and blood and her legs were broken. 

One of the soldiers stood before Conzu; "Corporal?" The devastated corporal looked up. "I think you'd better see this." Conzu stood up and followed the soldier to some bushes a few meters away from the tree. "We've found this, sir" the soldier said. 

At the same moment Corporal Alyanomo gave the sign to break Kushi's arms. They couldn't get her body from the tree without breaking her arms. "Damned ruthless earthbenders" Alyanomo said with a soft but angry voice. He knew that it would break Conzu even more if he would have seen this. That's why he ordered to bring Conzu elsewhere. 

Conzu sat down and looked at the fire nation dagger and amulet that his soldiers just found. He picked up the amulet, it was in the shape of the Fire Nation symbol and it had a painting of Kushi and Conzu in it. Around their painting there was an inscription in a semi circle: "Honor and loyalty to self, family, and nation." Conzu wanted to yell and cry like he did before, but he fought against it. He considered himself a failure because he cried in front of his men. But still Conzu couldn't resist against it, and the tears began to flow again. Then he picked up the dagger, the dagger used to be of Conzu's grandfather [of his mothers side. On his turn Conzu gave it to Kushi as a remembrance of him. _Never refuse to fight. Fight with courage, honor and respect_, was the inscription on the dagger. "Courage? Respect?" yelled Conzu. "Those murderers did not fought with courage, honor, and respect! I'll show them my respect, I'll show them my honor. Because they've vomited on my honor!" 

The men that were standing at the tree, heard everything. They felt sorry for Conzu, but where to scared to say anything. "Where is she" Conzu asked almost unhearable. 'We've made a stretcher and covered her, sir.' "Good, now let us go back" 'and sir, I'm so sorry for you.'  
Conzu looked at the soldier while pushing his tears back, he sighed. "Thank you soldier" the soldier saluted and walked away.  
"Alyanomo" Corporal Alyanomo immediately answered, 'yes, Conzu.'  
"I want you to go ahead with the half of your platoon and Kushi's body."  
'But Conzu, you're not goi... - ' "I'll stay here for a while with my platoon and the ten soldiers of your platoon."  
'What are you planning to do?' Alyanomo asked. "Just order ten of your soldiers, including your spies to stay behind with me."  
_'Conzu….' _  
"Are you deaf? Just do what I say. Don't make this even harder for me!" 'Conzu, listen! If you want to revenge Kushi… well, FINE! But you can't do that with only 40 men. Go back to base, give her a funeral, get more men and then revenge her. Besides, I want to be on your side in battle' sweat was dripping of Corporal Alyanomo's forehead. 

Conzu laid his hand on Alyanomo's shoulder. "I know. you're a good friend. And I appreciate that. But fact is that I can not wait any longer. She is murdered three weeks ago, you know that. We can't lose any more time. The time is running Alya, and you're the only one over here I'd trust to bring her body back. When you're back at the base, get Scarlet. She'll know what to do, and how to preserve the body till I am back for the funeral. I promise that it won't be long." Alyanomo looked at Conzu and knew that he was very serious on this. "Ok then, I guess I have to follow your orders. Just… stay alive will ye?" Conzu didn't answered. The only thing he heard was Alyanomo's voice changing into Kushi's voice. "Stay alive will ye, Stay alive will ye, Stay alive will ye…" 

'Conzu?'   
"Oh uh.. yeah, yeah.. ok, sure. Ofcourse I'll stay alive." The two friends said eachother goodbye. Conzu stayed with 40 soldiers, Alyanomo headed back to the base with 10 soldiers and Kushi's body. 

"Corporal, shall I burn the tree?" Atfiel, one Conzu's most loyal soldiers asked. It is an century old fire nation tradition to burn the thing where a person on was murdered. It is to show everyone, in this world and the spirit world that murder has a devastating affect on life. 

"No, soldier. Thank you, not this time. They'll know that we're coming if they see it. Just, just leave me alone for a couple of minutes."   
'yes, sir.' Conzu retreated into the forest. There, out of sight of his men. He broke down, and cried like he'd done never before. Tears were flowing over his face. He pulled his fists in the sands and began to shoot fire. Every time when a tear fell on the ground he shot, and burned his hands. "I must not show any weakness in front of my soldiers" he told himself.  
Conzu manned himself, stood up and walked back to his men. 

Conzu's soldiers were happy to see their corporal back in a good shape.

_"Men, we're going to avenge her death. I know that we are small in numbers, we may be outnumbered, but remember that we are Fire Nation. We are the superior element, we may be outnumbered, but they are clearly outmatched!" _


	4. The wedding

**The wedding**

Conzu ordered his spies in two groups of 8 men, to go undercover and spy in Ganatso and Gintang, two of the closest earth kingdom cities. In total there were 2 large hostile cities and 3 villages which are being used as military camps. Conzu and his other soldiers went undercover and spied – also in groups of eight men, in the other villages.

"We'll stay in those filthy swine holes for one week, and no day longer. Understood?" Conzu looked at the 5 different groups with a serious face. "You know what you should do. Gather as much information as you can find about the murder, the murderers, their weakness, tactics, army, strategy, etc." 'yes sir!' the soldiers chanted. The wind was blowing trough the corporals face, he straightened his back and looked serious 'this is it,' he said. The beginning of our retaliation has begun. He looked at Atfiel, who was to become later a part of Conzu's Royal Guard. "Make me proud, soldier. I know that you're a good and loyal fighter. Don't disappoint me, soldier." Atfiel was clearly proud that his corporal told him these words. 'I won't, sir.'   
"I know, you won't. If you keep on fighting like you did before, and like you'll serve your nation now. I'm sure you'll once be one of the elites. And I'd be honoured to have you under my command." Conzu gave him a hand and pulled him up. 'Thank you, sir. The honor will be whole mines' Atfiel said.

"Men, I'll see you in about one week exactly at this time at this place. If you need to speak with me earlier, you know where we are. Good luck!"  
Conzu waited till all men were out of sight when he led his group to Baleng, one of the Earth Kingdom villages.  
"I look horrible in these clothes" Felc Gerzin said. "I'd prefer my uniform, these peasant clothes are ugly, they smell, and they…" 'shut up soldier' Conzu snapped at him. "From now on we are using our rehearsed names. Felc, your name is Gantsu. Remember?"   
'uh, I guess you are...' "Wrong, you idiot! Your name is Lee." 'oh yeah that's right.'  
'My name is Gantsu' another soldier said. "Ok, good.. now remember, we never use our real names, we never salute, or use ranking titles, understood?" The corporal looked all of his soldiers in their eyes, nobody answered. "Ok, good. If we lose eachother, you'll know when and where you should be next week."

Almost two hours later they reached the village of Baleng. Baleng was not a normal peasant village, it had also a training camp for new recruits and a lot of Earth Kingdom soldiers resided in the village. The village was situated between the hills. Actually the whole wide spread area was an area with a lot of hills.

Conzu – now 'Yang Long' - and his soldiers were surprised to see no single guard at the village gates.

In the meantime Cpl. Alyanomo reached the base and reported the whole story to the council and the Fire Lord. The Firelord decided to wait for two weeks before sending reinforcements.

Nobody dared to intervene with the Firelord and they all agreed.

Some days later Conzu and his soldiers gathered enough information to burn the village down. Many of the recruits here were witness of the torturing and murder of Kushi. They found out that they were training in the forests, when they saw Kushi and her two friends. The other two they killed instantly, but they enjoyed to torture Kushi. Conzu wanted to burn the village, but was invited for a wedding the next day of one of the locals and he had to wait anyway.

He went over for dinner to his hosts. During the main course he asked them about 'this certain fire nation girl.'  
"It's outrageous, it's terrible and an unforgivable act" an elderly, respected man said. Conzu was surprised to hear this, "but she was Fire Nation, our enemy. They are sworn enemies of the Earth Kingdom" he said.  
'I don't care what or who they are, they shouldn't murder like that. Also the Fire Nation should be respected."

"But… they are murderers!" Conzu yelled. "Yang, my dear friend, we don't believe in murdering other people. We believe in victory, but not a victory of the sword or the bow. But with…- " Conzu's eyes grew large and thought back of when he was a little 6 year old boy…

_"but teacher, I don't get it. You don't appear to believe in the power of the sword, but how can the world endure without weapons? What would happen of us if we had no weapons to defend ourselves?" _

"Well, my dearest Conzu, we would perish then" his teacher smiled."

"- the light of…" "Of the truth with the power of your holy scrolls" Conzu interrupted him.  
His host was very surprised and stuttered "ye, yes you're right Yang."  
"But how would the world endure without weapons then? We need them to maintain order and justice."

"That's the difference between your people and ours" his hosts said while rubbing his long black beard. _"We're all Earth Kingdom, right?"_ Conzu looked at his plate. "Yes and no, my dear friend" a friendly smile appeared on his host his mouth. Conzu immediately looked up, would they know it? No. that can't be.. but if so.. who…. His host interrupted Conzu's thoughts by going on, "We live in the Earth Kingdom, just as we live in the Fire Nation. And we are loyal to the nation where we live, but most and first of all we are loyal to our people."

Conzu was stunned, he was shocked his face grew pale.  
"You're Yudaya."

Felc Gerzin sat on a chair in one of the local bars. He was talking to an earthbending recruit. The recruit was telling a lot of things about the murder and how the victim suffered. It was difficult for Felc not to show his contempt for what the recruit was telling. He ordered another drink.

Atfiel was standing in a corner of the same bar. He stared into the light of a candle, peering at some earthbenders from the corner of his eye. I hope everything is okay with Conzu and the others he thought.

He looked at the people who sat at the same table as he. Ofcourse, how could I be so stupid Conzu thought. All people at his table, actually in the whole quarter of the village where he was, were dressed differently then the common earth kingdom people. He sighed and didn't really know what to do.

"Yes, we are Yudayajin" his host told him. "Our ancestors where driven out of their country, a long time ago. In their exile they travelled over the whole world, and finally settled down in many places. Baleng, is one of these places. Conzu had to push his emotions aside not to betray himself. "Ah, I see. Well.. I've never met Yudayajin before. It is an honor for me to come at your sons wedding tomorrow."

"My pleasure" his hosts replied to him.

That night Conzu could hardly sleep. Finally he closed his eyes, and saw Kushi in a beautiful dress. "Come Conzu, it's time." He turned around and saw a men's procession going towards the shrine where a huge wedding canopy stood under the open sky. He stood under the canopy, and saw Kushi walking towards him. When she reached him she was accompanied by two other women, who he knew they were his mother and Kushi's mother. Kushi circled her groom seven times while beautiful music could be heard on the background. The music stopped when Conzu saw his old teacher coming forward and was about to utter some prayers. When suddenly the sky opened, thunder and lightening came out of it, the earth shook, and burst open, while shooting knives of stone at Kushi, nailing her to the wall of the shrine. The canopy, kushi's mother, his mother, his teacher and all of his loved ones disappeared in the ground. Conzu yelled, he shouted, he kicked but nobody seemed to hear him. "Conzu, please…" he turned around and saw Kushi's body on the wall..   
"AAAH" he yelled while falling out of his bed. Sweat was dripping of his head and upper body.

Conzu quickly washed himself, put on his clothes and wrote something.

The next day excitement and joyous anticipation reigned the Yudayajin quarter of Baleng. Young and old were getting ready for the wedding of Chani and Avig, the son Conzu's host the day before. Conzu was welcomed with warm blessings. The street which he pssed was decorated with greenery and colourful banners and ribbons hung from the windows. People were wearing their best clothes and the smell of delicious foods was being smelled everyone.

The actual celebration itself, began in the afternoon. The woman and girls gathered at the bride's house. To sing praises in honor of her. All the important people of their community were assembled at the grooms house. Who sat on a beautiful rug under a red silk canopy, dressed in a white robe. A golden crown adorned him with a thin olive branch resed on his head. He was flanked by his father – Conzu's host – and by the eldery, respected man Conzu spoke during the meal.

A flutist and drummer welcomed the arrival of each guest with a special melody. The guests brought wedding presents accompanied by heartfelt blessing. what a shame, that this village will be destroyed Conzu thought. 

The old man opened the ceremony, "High and Mighty one, unseal my lips so that my mouth may utter Your praises. My heart is full of appreciation to gratitude to our G'd who rests in the midst of us. Even in the exile He hears the prayers of the Yudayajin residing in the kingdom between the high hills and mountains.

Conzu stood in a dark corner of the hall, again pushing away his emotions and memories.

A while later, joyful cheering was heard in the hall. The people began to sing songs and danced around the groom. Until a powerful voice was heard, it was the voice of the main singer, calling upon the guests to escort the groom to the bride's chamber.

They escorted the groom flanked by his attendants. Music didn't stopped for a moment and the procession passed along the street adorned with greenery and flowers.

The moment the groom had entered the premises of the bride's chamber, a rain of raisins, nuts, grains, flowers and wheat descended upon his head. Conzu smiled when he was this, and again he tried to push away his child-related memories. The groom covered his brides head with a veil, all men now hurried their way out. The actual bridal ceremony could begin.

The singer sang quiet, moving traditional melodies, he sang rhymes that contained words that brought many of the guests to repentant tears. Conzu couldn't take it any longer. He walked away and stopped some distance away. Now he could hear the words of the cantor:

_"the beautiful ornament of hair has fallen  
From the fairest maid of Yudaya  
The years of childhood have passed  
like the setting sun at twilight"_

Conzu looked around him and broke down in tears. How can I destroy this people he said to himself…

_"… who carries the golden chain of her people's tradition.  
Each tear that is shed, is a jewel for this fairest crown on earth.  
Arise therefore, daughers of Yudayajin,  
To sing the bride praises!"_

Conzu stood up, cleaned his face and walked back to the ceremony. As much as he wanted to go and leave, he just couldn't.

He followed the men to the shrine, where – just like in his dream - huge canopy stood under the open sky. After the bridal ceremony the woman came out carrying burning torches. The bride seated on a decorated chair, was carried by four woman at the head of the procession. They moved slowly towards the courtyard. When they reached the shrine, the bride, following ancient custom, circled the groom seven times, escorted by her attendants. In the meantime the sun had set, and bright stars appeared in the black, velvet sky, like a canopy of jewels over the heads of the guests crowded in the courtyard.

Sillence ensued when the old man with the long white beard uttered the nuptial blessing in a voice trembling with excitement, whereupon the groom placed the ring on his bride's finger. The prayers were said in another, ancient language, the language of their ancestors.

This time Conzu really wanted to run away, it looked like his feet where stuck to the ground, but they weren't. His thoughts were with Kushi again, they would've had the same wedding. _"Harei at mekudeishes li k'das Mosheng v'Yudaya"_ – "Behold, you are consecrated to me with this ring according to the laws of Mosheng and Yudaya" - with these words the groom made her his legal wife.

"Yes, it is a beautiful sight, isn't it" someone said to Conzu. "Uh, eh, yes, yes it is." Only then Conzu found out that tears were flooding his cheeks again. It was so long ago since he participated such a wedding, he sighed very deeply.

Half an hour later the waiters were serving all kinds of pastries and delicacies, while he music of the singers and musicians brought joy to the young couple and guests. People danced, recited prayers in honor of the pair, and guests clapped. In the middle of the celebration Conzu slipped away with enough food for his soldiers. When the rejoicing of the wedding was at its peak, a servant came to the old man who Conzu spoke earlier. It seemed that he was the leader of this community. The servant whispered that there was a poor man waiting at the entrance that wanted to speak with him. "Go back and bid him to come inside. I'll talk to him later" he replied. The servant did as commanded, but returned right away. "The stranger insists on talking to the elder this minute, without delay!" he said.

Reluctantly, the elderly man stood up and went to see this stranger. The stranger was wearing a long dark coat and a priests/monks hood that almost completely covered his face. It was evening, so it was dark outside. 

"Please come inside, under the protection of my roof!" the elder said.  
"Thank you sir" the stranger answered, "but I did not come here to eat or drink. I have an urgent matter to discuss with you." Then he gave the elder a small scroll and a golden ring.

The elder shook his head in refusal. Thank you very much. This is a very valuable piece of jewelry, I can see. We really don't need it, however. But if you want to sell it, perhaps I'd be able to help you…"

"I don't need charity!" the stranger replied in a voice that suddenly sounded quite different. "But listen, you will yet need this scroll and ring one day." "But, but… I don't understand" the elder said.   
"Sometimes excessive joy brings about tragedy, and happiness is followed by affliction. Please take these things! It will prove to be a source of light in a time of darkness…"  
"Perhaps you'd be so kind as to explain yourself?" the elder whispered, growing pale.

"The sky is becoming laden with think clouds. Be careful, respected elder, and hide these things well. Never show them to others. It will help you in times of trouble."  
"You are frightening me, sir. Are you an angel or spirit sent from above or have you been sent by our enemies to bring me bad tidings?"

"The hand of the divine providence has sent me." The stranger said. "Don't you know that the cure always comes before the blow? Please take these things. It will help in times of distress. It has the ability to open closed doors."

The truth suddenly dawned on the elder. "Your voice… sounds familiar. Is it you, my dear Yang Long? Tell me please what is happened or what will happen? Are we in danger?"  
"Don't mention my name! May heaven protect you!" the stranger whispered as he pushed the scroll and ring into the elder's hand and disappeared into the darkness...


	5. Retaliation

**Retaliation**

The next day all 40 soldiers where at the appointed place. The meeting began in the evening. "We have found out that at least Baleng is guilty in the murder of Kushi, we also found evidence that the people of Ganatso were responsible for it, could you confirm this?" One of the spies stood up, "Yes sir, We spied in Ganatso and found out that miss Kushi was placed on trial in the city of Ganatso. She actually never got a real trial, they only humiliated her and immediately condemned her to death."

"Hmm.. ok, good job. Any other information available?"

"The judges family lives in Gintang, sir. Also the people of Gintang enjoyed the news. They even held parties, because they thought that Miss Kushi was a fire nation princess."

"That's enough for a retaliation…" Conzu sighed, "what about the other two villages?"

"Saftanu has nothing to do with it, sir. It is just located near to this place." - 'ah well, they are close enough to hide the murders. What about Baazir?'

"guilty, sir! The man who is responsible for the murder, an EK officer lives there with his family." Immediately after having said that Conzu's eyes spew fire, "then that's the first place where we will retaliate."

Nobody answered, "Baazir is a small village, which we can easily burn down. We will use almost the same tactics for all villages and cities. Which means, that we can not take any prisoners or survivors. We have to kill all inhabitants, understood." Conzu took a map and rolled it open. "Baazir is here, we will attack them tomorrow night from all sides. Ten men from the North, ten from the east, south and west. We will need to have a lot of water, we don't want to have any survivors. So we will dig small channels on 4 KM distance from the village. I'll set them on Greek fire, so that they won't be able to put it off. At the same time we will go down to the valley where Baazir is located. We have to act swiftly. We can't afford any mistakes. Understood?" Conzu looked at his soldiers, one by one.

"Sir, how do we know who their leader is?"

"Li Tu, (the head spy) already took care of that; we know exactly where he lives, and how he looks like."

Tonight we will sleep well, tomorrow morning we'll train and prepare ourselves for the battle.

The next day they prepared themselves for the upcoming fight and saddled their ostrich-horses. After a ride of one hour they arrived at the Baazir. In the evening they digged a small channel around the village and poured water from a mountain pool in it.

"It is almost time. We are clearly outnumbered, but we will ambush them, we will slaughter those murderers."

Baazir was a nice small EK village situated in a valley between four two hills. Conzu and his men were well prepared for this moment. The corporal signed his men to split, ten men on each side. On Conzu's sign all of them sneaked at the village silently. The few guards that were there were swiftly eliminated. Conzu's best men sneaked into Gow's house, captured him and his wife and taped their mouths. Upon that Atfiel shot a silent fireball in the air to let Conzu know that they succeeded. Immediately Conzu lit the small 'channels' with fire, and in just minutes the village was surrounded by a huge wall of fire. Conzu ran towards the village as his soldiers already began in burning down the buildings their inhabitants. Some EK people managed it to come outside their homes and tried to defend themselves. But it was all useless. Almost all villagers and soldiers there burned with their homes. Suddenly the heard Conzu saw a large rock flying into his direction, he quickly avoided it and blew the earthbender away. The sound of fighting people faded away, as they only heard the sound of cracking buildings and fire. The smell of burned flesh was everywhere.

Conzu inspected the village and burned down all the remaining's that were still standing. He wanted to be sure that no one survived it. After having one that, he returned to Gow and his wife.

"Do you know who we are, and why we are here?" he asked him. One of the soldiers removed the 'tape' on Gow's mouth.  
"You, you've killed my whole family, my friends, my home!"

"Wrong answer," Conzu commanded his soldiers to bring him Gow's wife. "You see, this is the only thing you've left Gow."

"How do you know my…" - "Look at her!" Gow stared at his enemy.

"If you don't want to… fine. Be my guest. I am only trying to be friendly for you peasant. You did not gave me or my beloved the change to say goodbye!" Conzu yelled at him as he kicked him in his face. "Pick him up," Conzu ordered. He turned around and looked at Gow's wife was crying, "I will be nice, I only want justice. So I will not punish you for the act of your husband. I will punish you for helping an enemy an enemy and murderer." Conzu turned his head to Gow's direction, "now, watch and learn."

Gow's wife kneeled before Conzu as he bended a large fire blade. "By these you will be executed for crimes against the Fire Nation. Long live Firelord Gotag," after uttering these words Conzu dropped his fire blade and executed Gow's wife.

"Noooo you monster!"

"You call me a monster? You who with your twisted mind enjoyed in torturing an innocent, young girl, only because she was Fire Nation?" Gow silenced, "You will soon feel the same pain like she felt." Atfiel and Felc Gerzin dragged Gow to a large nearby tree and nailed him to that tree.

Conzu wrote a small message, attached it to a javelin and sticked it in Gow's body.

The message reads:

**EXECUTION**

In name of the Firelord,

This man is executed because of crimes and murder against the Fire Nation.

Proximally three weeks before his execution he tortured and murdered an innocent young girl. After his torturing he and his men nailed her to a tree. By doing that they signed their own death sentence.

All of those who were present at the murder will be punished (this includes the surrounding villages and cities). Baazir is just an example.

Signed,  
Corporal Conzu  
_Fire Nation Armed Forces_

The retaliation has now officially begun…


	6. Few against many

Few against many

After the attack on Baazir, Conzu decided to move on as fast as they could. Immediately after it they retreated back into the woods while the village burned. It was still dark, but the burning village provided for enough light to see in the dark.

"What now sir?" one of the soldiers asked. Conzu looked up to the big soldier, "We will continue with the retaliation."

"But which town?"

"What's the closest? Conzu said as he looked at the scouts. "Baleng, sir." The young corporal's face grew pale but luckily for him nobody could see that because of the darkness, he didn't answer.

"Sir?" Conzu was in deep thought, "No. We will not go to Baleng at this time, what's the closest place besides Baleng?" he replied after some minutes of silence.

Felc Gerzin stood next to Conzu looking at an open map, "I'd suggest attacking Ganatso." The other soldiers were stunned by his bold suggestion. "We can't attack Ganatso, it's a walled city!" one of the other soldiers replied.

"We can do it when we use our brains ( … )"

"No we can't, they're with too many!" More men began to argue with each other.

"ENOUGH!" Conzu yelled at them. "We will attack Ganatso, but we will use our brains like Gerzin just said."

"But, sir… -"

"You'll have to follow my orders. Don't be afraid, we will burn them to the ground. I know that they have fire nation prisoners. If we free them, we'll have our reinforcements."

"How sir?" a soldier asked astonished.

"We'll discus that tomorrow morning. First take your rest, you'll need it ( … ) Now, rest." Conzu stood up and walked to his tent. He entered his tent, closed the tent flap, and fell on his improvised bed. All this killing… It is not the nature of my people he sighed. But I have to avenge Kushi's murder. These animals will know that they can't do something like this unpunished. I will not allow it, he thought. He kept thinking about Kushi and the next strategies as he undressed himself and went to sleep.

The next day Conzu instructed his men, some of them were scared others couldn't care less while others couldn't wait to strike again. It was a daring strategy he had in mind, but with the proper actions it might worked out. The journey to Ganatso from where they were was longer then usual. They travelled for almost the whole day when they finally saw the walls of Ganatso. They could just have followed the road and reached Ganatso in a few hours, but Conzu thought it was safer to go through the woods and the hills.

They stopped and rested in the forest near Ganatso. Some of the soldiers looked desperate; others were trying to cheer them up. "Ok." Conzu couldn't stand it that some of his soldiers were playing with fire while they should focus themselves on the mission. "The rule is," he started, "not to besiege walled cities – especially not when we're outnumbered – it can possibly be avoided."

"Why not sir? They only have one gate, we can easily besiege them or at least starve them to death if we get reinforcements." The corporal sighed, 'The preparation of manlets, movable shelters and various other implements of war, will take at least three whole months. Probably even more because we're just with 40 men and would have to wait for the reinforcements. That is way too long, we can't afford that. Besides, they have earth benders."

"I see, but what can we do then?"  
"We'll infiltrate the city, take out their military leaders, assassinate the right persons and we can take over the city with ease." Conzu drank some water, "It is the best thing to do for us, being in this situation, to subdue the enemy troops without any or as less as possible fighting. We'll capture the city without laying siege on it, we'll overthrow their 'kingdom,' without lengthy operations in the field."

"But sir, are you sure it will work? I mean I, eh… we –" Conzu interrupted him.  
"Don't worry Atfiel, I saw how you fought in Baazir, I saw how you followed my orders. I am sure that you'll succeed in this too. One of our nation's greatest Generals once said, 'A clever fighter is one who not only wins, but excels in winning with ease.' And you excelled in Baazir ( … ) You all did!" he said as he looked at the other soldiers.

"Azai, tell us again about the important persons in Ganatso." Azai, the head of the spies began to talk and instructed his fellow soldiers about the important buildings, people, dates and times in Ganatso. "… and how do we come in?" Conzu asked after an hour of deep conversation.

"There is a secret passage way that leads to the garden of the royal palace," Azai answered. Conzu's smile suddenly changed, "but how are we supposed to get 40 men unnoticed through the gardens?"

"Well ehm ( … ) there is this festival they have, all ranking officers and most of their soldiers will be gathered in a huge wooden building." A grin was seen on the corporal's face, "A huge wooden building with a lot of people gathered in it? That sounds as much fun for us. When is this festival and is it then possible to slip without being seen by the guards?"

"Yes sir, it will be very easy to slip in, the festival will be hold in four days in honou….-"

"Four days?!" Conzu yelled, "Why didn't you say that before.. we can't sit and do nothing for four days."

"Sir, we could always…"

"No" Conzu stood up to get a map of the area, "tell me about the defences of Saftanu," he said as he turned to Shinu. Shinu was the one who led the spies in Saftanu.

Shinu began to talk but kept it simple and short, "They have no real defences, it is mainly just a village without walls. Though they do have some soldiers because it used to be a training camp."

"And the location?" Azai asked a bit annoyed, Conzu immediately noticed Azai's bad mood but didn't disciplined him. Shinu looked at his corporal, Conzu nodded.  
"The village is located in a valley, like you can see here and here," he pointed at the map. "The estimated time from here is maybe 2 hours through the forest and 1 hour if we travel by road."

"We'll go through the forest, the attack and plunder of Baazir plus the ones I took from Baleng gave each of us a good ostrich-horse to ride."

After this was settled they discussed the strategy of their attack and not that long after it, they'd travelled in direction of Saftanu.

Almost three hours later they arrived at the place of destination. Yes, this is it Conzu thought. He was eager to attack and peaked at the village from the high hills surrounding it, what is that! his mind panicked for a moment, he turned around to his men who also saw it. Their faces seemed like white as snow, stunned. "How can this be!" Conzu snapped at Shinu and Azai while riding back to the forest. The village of Saftanu was packed with different platoon's of Earth Kingdom soldiers. Tents and banners of the city of Ganatso could be seen everywhere.

"I, I don't know sir, they, they never had such an…-"

"They are from Ganatso," Azai interrupted Shinu.

Conzu now really angrily stopped his Ostrich-horse, "Oh, really? I thought their banners meant that they were from the Water tribes," he said sarcastically. After a while he came back to his senses, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have reacted like I did. Now sit down, eat and drink, today we'll achieve another victory."

His soldiers looked at him as if he was crazy, a mad man. "We will attack them tomorrow morning at sunrise from their eastern hill. Now be happy, eat and make music. They should know that we are here. He appointed 10 soldiers to stay at the camp sing, make music and a lot of noise. He himself and the other 30 soldiers searched the forest for eventual victims. Not far from where they were they encountered a small group of Saftanu villagers and soldiers. The noise of their camp could be vaguely heard, Conzu ordered his men to attack the small group. Suddenly, everywhere was fire which instantly killed most the group, they smashed two men to the ground, "they're probably dead," one of the soldiers said as he stood over their bodies. "Sir, the other 2 battalions (1) will arrive tomorrow," Atfiel told his commander. After that they retreated back. Ofcourse they all knew that the two men were not death and that there were no other battalions at all.

Conzu immediately ordered 3 men to follow the earth kingdom soldiers and see if they'd act like he expected. The rest went back to the others and waited for what would happen. Hours went by and still nothing happened.

"Do you really think they will bite corporal?"  
"I hope they will," Conzu said as he played with the bonfire. "The fact that they marched out with such a large army means that they are on war path. They are looking for a fight with us, so we'll give them one. Only not one they'll expect," he grinned. At that moment they heard a single ostrich-horse running into their direction. It was one of the scouts he'd sent out after the two earth Kingdom soldiers. "Sir, they're coming!" The men quickly picked up their weapons. "After the arrival of the two wounded men we kept alive, they were brought into their hospital and were visited by high ranking officers, we even saw their general, General Lao. And after two hours they were busy with mustering their forces. They are now ready to ascend the hills in order to search for us."

"Thank you soldier, that is very good news. Do you also know who is leading them?"

"Yes sir, General Lao is leading the searching party itself," the soldier quickly responded.  
"Oh, that's too bad." 

"Shall I put the fire out?" a soldier asked, "No. Keep the campfires burning to indicate our presence in this area." Immediately after that he jumped on his ostrich horse and led his soldiers away.

General Lao ascended towards the forest to find and strike Conzu's camp in the middle of the night. The general and his men expected a large enemy force, so they were very cautious in their actions and movements. Looking for the enemy camp, after some hours they found the camp, still with burning campfires.

In the meantime Conzu and his men travelled all night to strike with full force at the unsuspecting Earth Kingdom village in the valley, which was transformed to a military camp. They placed a lot of burning torches on the hills so that it looked like there were other platoons waiting on the hills to attack the village. Everything seemed to be in favour of Conzu, they attacked the village from the east with the rising sun at their backs, a distinct military advantage. Everybody was silent as they ran down towards the village, there was a nice south-western wind what also worked in their advantage. Quickly the firebenders shot large flames at the tents and buildings of the sleeping soldiers. The non-fire bending soldiers dipped their torches into a barrel with oil they brought along with them, set them on fire and threw them at as soon as they could away, towards the sleeping villagers.

People tried to escape their houses but got instantly burned, killed by arrows or just the sword, fire was everywhere. Screaming people could be heard from everywhere too, from people who got stuck in a building or burning tent. Cries of pain, shouted orders and moans combined themselves with the smell of scorched clothes and burned flesh. The wind was spreading the fire very fast, in no time most of the tents and buildings were burning.

Conzu and his men fought like beasts with the earth kingdom enemy. Suddenly another panic broke out on the Earth Kingdom side, they saw – for what they thought it was – a huge Fire Nation army stationed on the eastern hill from the village.

Lian, one of the best soldiers of Conzu's platoon saw their panic, and pushed his fists forward, blasted two large fireballs into the faces of two men who were standing before him. And bended a large fire dragon while burning many soldiers. "Look corporal, we're in the circus," Conzu laughed "You really know how to bring entertainment in serious stuff, eh," he said while avoiding a spear. Some 20 meters further Conzu saw a high ranking officer fighting for his life. He rushed over to the officer – who seemed to be a colonel, pushing his sword through some bodies, pulling it back, dodging a sword, hitting someone on his left side, avoiding rocks and shooting fire. Finally he almost made his way through to the EK colonel.

A thick black cloud hang over the camp, everywhere you saw sparks. Conzu looked around him and saw an untouched tent with men that tried to save some of their possessions, when it suddenly got caught by the flames. A scream was heard from inside the tent. Another scream was heard, this time it was a familiar voice. Conzu quickly turned around and saw Shinu with an arrow in his shoulder, trying to keep fighting. He searched the area with his eyes and saw the archer; he then gave his best shot and knocked down the archer. He looked at Shinu again who fought 5 meters from Conzu and rushed over in order to protect him. But before he could reach Shinu, Conzu got hit by a rock and fell on the ground. He quickly avoided a sword and kicked his opponent as he blasted fire at him. He picked up his sword and stood up, "now, where is this colonel," Conzu said.

"Aaargh" he suddenly heard, he looked in direction of Shinu but couldn't find him, he looked left, right, "where is he?" Then he turned around and saw Shinu's body penetrated by two swords, an arrow and smashed hands. Conzu's was furious, his whole body was on fire. 

Conzu and the colonel now, where standing in front of each other and a fight broke out. Both of them fought well, but finally Conzu pushed his sword on to the throat of the colonel as he lay on the ground. "Surrender yourself and give your remaining troops the order to lay down their weapons," Conzu said in a calm voice. A silence followed from the colonel's side. The flames and clattering swords around them was heard, but it seemed like the time stood still for these two officers. The two looked at each other with hatred in their eyes, "never" the colonel disappeared in the earth, Conzu and the ground whereupon he stood were lifted up into the air. He quickly jumped off from it and immediately burned the colonel, though he did not gave his best shot. The colonel screamed and cursed, his skin was scorched, "my eyes, what have you done…" the smoke, the ashes and fire apparently blinded him.

Conzu walked over towards him and again he pushed his sword on his throat. But this time, he pushed it all the way trough the back of his neck. The lifeless body fell on the ground, the battle was won.

"IT IS OVER" Conzu yelled as loud as he could, "People of Saftanu, army of Ganatso, it is over. Your officers are death, lay down your weapons, surrender!" Ofcourse this was just a formality, because most of them already fled or were death. The few tens of soldiers who had burn scars everywhere surrendered. Many of them tried to flee, and Conzu let them. "Who is the highest ranking officer of you?" Conzu asked as his soldiers surrounded the prisoners. 

"I am, sir. I am captain Pong "

"Pong?" he repeated with a grin on his face, "then we'll use you as an example Pong." The terrified captain stared at Conzu, "but I am a fellow officer. You should…" Atfiel punched him in his face.

"You know what to do," Conzu ordered as he walked over to Shinu's body. Captain Pong was about to get nailed to a tree, the same way as they did with Kushi. "I'm sorry my friend," he sighed as Conzu looked at Shinu's body.

After the nailing of cpt. Pong, the other Ganatso (EK) soldiers were even more terrified as they were before. They were convinced that they were defeated by just a small part of the huge army stationed on that eastern hill. The Ganatso soldiers were tied up and some of them were thrown into a burning building. 

Conzu thought for a while, "We don't have the supplies or time to keep them."  
"What should we do with them sir? Should we kill them"  
"No, there has been enough bloodshed for the past hours." The soldier looked at him as if he did not understand his commander. "That's an order. But be sure to scar all of them in their face and their hands."

They did as was said, before the release of the remaining survivors of Saftanu they were scared. After that they ran away as fast as they could with their pain. Nobody of them looked back, where they would've seen a thick cloud of black smoke covering the village, flaring flames razing through the buildings, helped by the wind.

Conzu took the message he wrote earlier that day and just like he did in Baazir, he attached that message to the body of the nailed captain.

"…

…Sentenced to annihilation for hostility against the Fire Nation and the murder of an innocent young woman.

Signed,   
Corporal Conzu  
_Fire Nation Armed Forces_"

After that they left the burning place with all its death bodies behind them, and threw the burning torches on the eastern hill at the village.

From the forest behind the eastern hill they took care for each other wounds, especially Conzu who happened also to be also a medic. They gathered their strength for the expected battle, knowing that they were very much outnumbered. Conzu even thought about retreating for now, since it seemed to be suicide if he would attack them now. But he had not made up his mind yet.

Many hours went by when General Lao returned. He had spent the whole night looking for the Fire Nation, figuring that they were probably hiding from him, so he finally gave up. Upon returning he and his men in the hills came upon the burning village and attached camp in the valley. Terror overcame them, without a fight they too fled in Northern direction, towards the coast. Avoiding contact with Conzu's exhausted and outnumbered soldiers on the other side.

Notes:

1 - battalion is a military unit usely consisting of between two and six companies (around 500-1000 men).


End file.
